Knights of Badassdom: LARPing for Keeps
Let’s get one thing out of the way. For a movie about LARPing, Knights of Badassdom could have gone so wrong. I mean, it does go wrong, but not in the ways you would think. I went into this movie fully expecting the characters to be both mocked and mockable. It would have been easy to do: people who don’t participate in LARPing may look at the pastime as something silly: grown men and women play-acting as knights or vampires or werewolves. Yet Knights of Badassdom treats its subjects with respect. At no point in this film did I feel either the writers or actors were making fun of the hobby itself. There are comedic moments, but they happen as a result of LARPing, not at the expense of LARPing. While my LARPing friends may see things I don’t, as someone with passing familiarity with the genre, I thought this movie handled its subject matter well.
On the surface, Knights of Badassdom is a run-of-the-mill horror-comedy. Joe (True Blood’s Rwan Kwanten) is a layabout who lives with his rich friend and plays doom metal. When Joe’s girlfriend Beth (Margarita Levieva) dumps him, Joe’s friends decide a LARP is just the thing to lift his spirits. They take him to an epic LARPing weekend, which will feature a battle on the field of Evermore. However, during a quest, Joe’s friend Erik (Steve Zahn) summons a demon by reading from the Necronomicon-like tome he found. When the demon runs rampant through the event, it’s up to Joe, Erik and the rest of their guild to save the day.
First, let’s talk about what went right. Knights of Badassdom features a top-notch cast, which includes not only Kwanten and Zahn, but also Danny Pudi (Community), Summer Glau (Firefly) and a pre-Game of Thrones Peter Dinklage. Every actor in the picture is a fully fledged character, with nary a caricature in sight. It would have been so easy to write-off these characters as losers, but the writing team doesn’t. There’s a single gag about jerking off to a monster manual, and not even one joke about Dinklage’s height. (Given the sheer number of dwarf jokes in Game of Thrones I was expecting at least one.) The characters come off as real, and every member of the cast treats the material with respect, which I admire. Again, I’m not as familiar with LARPing, so I can’t speak about how accurate its portrayal of a large gathering is. But to this non-expert, the movie feels authentic. Characters speak in shorthand, moving in and out of “game” speak at the drop of a hat, not waiting for the audience to catch up. The writers did their research.
Great acting, solid directing, a tight script and a nifty shooting location (which I have to mention since the movie was filmed in my old stomping grounds of Spokane, Washington). Where, then, did the film go wrong? What prompted the movie to generate so much buzz at Comic Con, only to be sent straight to DVD three years after it was filmed? A trail of internet articles may provide some background, but the movie itself also reveals some answers. While not as heavily reliant on CGI as a Michael Bay film, Knights of Badassdom needed better CGI. A lot better. There are several shots with effects so awful I’m immediately taken out of the movie, and the final demon approaches The Mummy Returns–levels of bad CGI. Why then, didn’t the production company spend a little more money on a polish of the film before its release? Here’s where the tale gets interesting. According to several sources, there was a fallout between director and producer, with the producer editing the film himself down to the 85-minute run time. While I can’t tell how the producer re-edited the film, I’m more apt to blame him for the hackneyed intro and conclusion, as they seem like they’d come more from someone who only deals with the money than someone who got a top-caliber performance out of Steve Zahn. Add to this mix the lawsuits brought against the production company, and a picture emerges of a producer who didn’t trust the material the director gave him.
So cut Knights of Badassdom some slack and give it a watch. While its potential was squandered, there’s enough good material to make for an enjoyable evening. Zahn, Glau, Dinklage and the rest bring these characters to life, and their real-life counterparts may be found at your local campsite some hot July evening.
Knights of Badassdom tl;drs
Quick summary: When Joe’s girlfriend breaks up with him, his friends take him to a LARP event to lift his spirits. The event turns deadly; however, when one of his friends summons a demon.
Too many writers? Just two, and it’s a solid effort since it’s both writers’ sole credit.
Recommended if you like: LARPing, Peter Dinklage’s real voice
Better than I expected? The movie doesn’t mock LARPing at all; every character is real and solid.
Worse than I hoped? Poor CGI, which breaks the narrative flow whenever it happens.
Verdict: A few millions more and this could have been a great film. As it is, Knights of Badassdom is merely mediocre, despite the top-notch acting.
Related Reading: Wiki article
Related Viewing: Trailer
